Circles and Squares

The stone inscriptions at Yale spoke to me as an undergraduate, particularly the haunting carvings of the Sterling Memorial Library. This enormous bibliographic cathedral is a mixture of late Art Deco and Gothic Revival that was designed by James Gamble Rogers and completed early in the depression in 1931.

Above all, the carvings over the main entrance to Sterling Memorial Library made the deepest impression on me as I passed through them almost every day. From left to right above the right door stand four tablets with ancient scripts: Arabic, Greek, Chinese and Mayan passages with their respective scribes standing below. The decision to include Chinese language among the inscriptions of the great traditions over the main door of Sterling Memorial back in 1931, and to have it flanking the Greek inscription, as opposed to being placed off in a corner with other non-Western languages, inspired me to look at the China through different eyes. Yale had given it a centrality that inspired, as if it was a true parallel for the Western tradition.

Yale, after all, had chosen to put Hebrew, not Greek or Latin, on its crest.

Although Hebrew might have been the language of God, the entire Western interpretive tradition had insisted on viewing the Hebrew tradition through Greek or Roman filters. The decision to put Hebrew on the Yale crest seemed to me, more than just rivalry with Harvard, a profound statement about the equality of the great cultural traditions.

Here is a close up of the Chinese inscription:

The text employed is taken from a work of calligraphy by the Tang writer Yan Zhenqing (709-784) 颜真卿 entitled Yanjia miaobi (颜家庙碑) “Preface to the Yan Family Mausoleum Stele”

The passage is taken from praise given by the Tang Emperor 肃宗 toYan Zhenqing

“卿兄以人臣大节

Yan Zhenqing  is extremely strict concerning conduct of officials

独制横流

He lays down the law with full confidence

或俘其谋主

Sometimes he has taken a chief conspirator captive

或斩其元恶 。

Or decapitated the arch villain

当以救兵悬绝

When he found himself far away from relief troops

身陷贼庭

Or in the courtyard of a criminal

旁若无人

He did not show the slightest discomfort

历数其罪

He would read off their crimes

手足寄於锋刃

And risk his limbs to the sharp blades

忠义形於颜色

Sincerity and loyalty is written on his visage

古所未有

There had never been such a figure in history”

朕甚嘉之

The emperor gave him this effusive praise.

卿兄以人臣大节，独制横流，或俘其谋主，或斩其元恶。当以救兵悬绝，身陷贼庭，旁若无人，历数其罪。手足寄於锋刃，忠义形於颜色。古所未有，朕甚嘉之。”曜卿工诗书草隶，十五以文学直崇文馆，淄川司马。旭卿善草书，胤山令。茂曾好属文诂训，仁厚绝众，犍为司马。